The Last of Together
by Naruisawesome
Summary: Mai, Naru, and the others are back with more cases to solve. As time goes on, the cases get more and more dangerous. And what's Mai to do when she's targeted more and more? Case 1: The Case of the Drowning Girls. Written by Naruisawesome and Spamano Love Child.
1. The Case of the Drowning Girl part 1

**Naruisawesome: Hey everyone! So, yes, I have started _another_ story with someone. Hehe! ^.^**

**Spamano Love Child: And I happen to be that person~!**

**Naruisawesome: Yes, you are. XD Everyone say hello to one of my best friends *points to SLC* lol. She wanted to do a story with me, so voila! Here it is!**

**Spamano Love Child: Yay, I love being a best friend! Anyway, because of my laziness, this has been the making since February 24th, 2014. -.-" I'm terrible sometimes. So...Enjoy!**

**Naruisawesome: ^_^; That's alright. Anyways, like she said, enjoy! And please R&amp;R!**

**Disclaimer: We don't own Ghost Hunt!**

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**^.^ Chapter 1 ^.^**

Sighing, I walked into the office. It would be another day filled with tea-making and filing paperwork, at the best. Already knowing Naru's first words would be, "Tea, Mai," I headed to the kitchenette-thing, grabbing his favorite tea. Maybe he'd be a bit nicer because of it? I nearly laughed at my wishful thinking. Patiently waiting for the water to boil, I thought about the night before. After waking up at one in the morning, I found myself too scared to go back to sleep. Now yawning, I finished up the tea, walking over to the office Naru would be working at.

"Morning, Boss!" I shouted cheerfully. Naru glared at me. _Too early in the morning? Too bad for him._ Smiling, I put the tea my his side. I placed my hands behind my back and slowly began to rock on my heels. "Ne, what's that look for? You should be proud I'm _early_ today!" My smile turned into a grin. My boyfriend stared at me before smirking, and I could feel a blush rising to my cheeks. He was _totally_ making fun of me again! _Why is he always such a jerk?_ I tried to cover my blush by diverting his attention. "You know, it's not nice to stare at people!"

"You stare at me all the time." He shot back as he picked up his teacup, hiding his smirk, before taking a sip. I blanched, my face even more tomato-like than before. Throwing my hands on my cheeks, I stormed out of the room, throwing the tea tray on the counter. I'm never able to win against him, so why do I even try? I've never been to win an argument with that narcissist. I sighed in defeat, leaning against the counter, closing my eyes and counting to ten. But before I could reach there, I felt a hand muss my hair.

"What's got you so down, kiddo?" I snapped my eyes open, and launched myself into a hug.

"Monk!" I burst out, jumping up and down excitedly. It'd been _forever_ since I'd last seen him!

"Woah, what's gotten into you?" He grinned, wrapping an arm around me to return my hug.

"Nothing! I'm just really glad to see you, since you've been with your band a lot and all." I smiled and let go. Monk gave a sheepish smile.

"Yeah, I'm sorry I haven't been able to see you lately... But hey, you had Naru didn't you?" He added teasingly, causing me to pout.

"Mooooonk! Don't say things like that!" I began to fake cry. "I knew you hated me!"

He looked a bit panicked now. "Oi, what's wrong with that?! And of course I don't hate you—don't say that!" He said, trying to be calm. I stopped my fake crying, looking at him with red, teary eyes.

"A-are you _sure_?"

Monk nodded vigorously, placing a hand on my shoulder, and looked at me in the eyes. "Yes, yes, I'm sure."

"Yay!" I cheered, crying gone completely. I skipped away to the living room where we held clients, but stopped short. There was a woman sitting there with Lin and Naru. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed a client. I put a smile on my face, walking over with Monk to sit next to my boyfriend. Her eyes were downcast, her blonde hair cascading down her shoulders, which were shaking. She was holding the hand of a young boy, probably about twelve. He looked at the woman concernedly.

"Mom?" She snapped her head up, as though she'd been in deep thought.

"Sorry, Akio." She looked up at us, smiling weakly. "I apologize for spacing out. I've just had a lot on my mind, so please forgive me."

"No, not at all! I apologize for coming in here late! I'm Mai Taniyama."

"And I'm Houshou Takigawa."

"I'm Mio Tachibana..." The woman said, looking at us with tired eyes. Then she shifted her gaze down to the boy beside her. "And this is my son, Akio."

"Mrs. Tachibana, can you please explain why you're here today?" Naru asked, straight to the point as always. I inwardly sighed at that. I just hope he doesn't be too blunt and cold towards the poor woman.

"Well, you see...It's about my house and property. My husband and I moved in after our wedding about thirteen years ago, and everything was normal until we had our first son, Ichiro. About three months after he was born, things started to fall. Since it was a new house, we thought it was just the house settling. A year later we had Akio," She gestured to her son. "After he was born, nothing happened. It was all normal. The next year we had my second-to-youngest son, Daisuke, and there were these...knocking sounds all throughout the house. Two years later we had my youngest son, Nozomu. It all stopped again. Then we had my twin daughters, Kanae and- Kanae and Kaori. Then the knocking sounds and things moving on their own happened together. Four years after, about six months ago, my daughter Kaori died. She got sick—there was nothing we could do. After that, Kanae started to have nightmares—I mean, who wouldn't after that? And then she told me she was seeing things..."

"What kind of things?" Naru questioned. He was already in his 'thinking pose', so I knew this case had already caught his attention. Mrs. Tachibana fidgeted uncomfortably, whether from having such full attention from Naru, Monk, and myself, or for what she was going to say next, I couldn't quite tell.

"She sees...She says she sees Kaori in the playroom when she's alone. And sometimes she says she sees her sleeping in her old bed like she did when she was sick. When she does, she told me she 'takes care of Onee-chan when she's sick, cause she screams cause it still hurts.' And four months ago, she woke up with small, hand-shaped bruises on her face, but no one in our house had hands that fit, and she told Akio that is was Kaori because she was mad. She has scratches in her legs and arms that say terrible things; there keeps being horrible accidents, like knives falling, and fires out of nowhere, and we've got these writings on the base of our necks." She handed over pictures and showed us Akio's neck. The kanji for 'loneliness' was there, as though they'd been etched into his skin. She began to cry, and I looked away.

"And last week, Kanae was pulled into the lake we have on our property! She would have died if Ichiro hadn't seen and got her out. But when he went under the water to find her, he saw her being pulled under it by a little girl he didn't recognize. He kicked her away, and as he was getting to surface, he said a young woman took the girl by her arm, and they stared at him and disappeared! Please, you have to help us! It's too dangerous, someone's going to die soon, I can feel it!" She continued.

I snapped my eyes towards Naru with a look that dared him not to care this case. He better help this poor family, or so help me... Although, I knew it was unlikely that he wouldn't; this case is too interesting for him, and besides...he's not heartless.

"We'll need three rooms set up—one for a base, a girl's room, and a boy's room. We'll be there in three days."

Mrs. Tachibana's eyes lit up at his words. That was the first time they had done so since she's been here. "Oh, thank you! Thank you, Mr. Shibuya!"

He nodded in reply, and we all stood up, bowing to each other. She grabbed her son's hand, thanking us one last time before leaving the office. Naru turned towards me, ready to speak, but I already knew what he was going to say.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." I interrupted him. "Call the others, right?" He nodded with an irritated look, and I bounced of with a victorious grin. Behind me, I just knew he gave an eye roll before going back into his office. I picked up the phone, dialing Ayako's number. It rang a few times, and I tapped my foot, smiling at Monk who was saying something about Ayako being an old hag. Finally, there was an annoyed, "Hello?" on the other end.

"Hey, Ayako, it's me, Mai! We've got a case."


	2. The Case of the Drowning Girl part 2

**Disclaimer: We don't own Ghost Hunt!**

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**^.^ Chapter 2 ^.^**

Plopping down into my seat in the van, I let out a breath. Beside me, Naru slid in as well, his case files in hand, and slammed the door shut. We're about to leave for the Tachibana's house as soon as Lin gets our luggage in the van. Naru quickly scanned through the files once more, his face blank. I wondered what was in there that interested him so much—it was normal for him to review the files, but he'd looked at this one all day long. With my fist against my cheek, to support my head, I stared at him through my eyelashes.

"Yes, Mai?" He asked quietly. I lifted my head up as I blinked in surprise.

"N-Nothing... Just thinking." I simply said, blushing a tad bit. He smirked.

"About me?"

I stuck out my tongue at him and crossed my arms with huff.

"You're such a narcissist." I grumbled, not wanting to admit that I _was_ thinking about him. But it wasn't what he was thinking—I was only wondering why this case had his full and upmost attention. He kept his smirk, putting away the file when Lin entered the car. He didn't even give us a single glance while he started up the engine. _Typical Lin._ I mentally sighed. _At least Naru talks to me...sometimes. Geez, and I'm suppose to be his girlfriend here!_

Still, despite my inner complaints, Naru kept to himself, and I sighed. My mind wandered off to the case. It was sad, really. A little girl died, leaving her twin all alone. Just like another set of twins I know, but I decided not to think about that. Naru seemed to sense my train of thought was going into unpleasant places because he suddenly called my name.

"What, Naru?" I asked. He stared at me for a few moments before reaching his hand out to my face and touching the corner of my eye with the side of his finger. I moved back, startled. "What are you—?"

"Why were you starting to cry?" He asked. I blinked, not realizing I was.

"Huh? I-I..." I bit my lip, unsure of how to respond. How was I supposed to tell him I was thinking of his dead brother? Since I already know that _that_ conversation wouldn't go well, I figured I could answer in a different way. "I...I just thinking about...about Mrs. Tachibana's daughter who died...and how they all must still be grieving for her."

"You're always too emotionally attached to the cases, Mai," He crossed his arms, looking out the window. "Be careful, I don't want you getting hurt." I smiled at his words. Though I wonder when he'll actually _look_ at me in the eyes when he says those kind of things that made my heart melt.

"I'll try my best." I assured him. He said nothing more, once again going through the files. Sighing, I tried to get comfortable for the long drive ahead of us. Suddenly, my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket, seeing Monk's number displayed on the screen. Naru turned his head towards me with a frown and narrowed eyes as he heard my phone ring. I mouthed Monk's name to him, answering my phone.

"What's up, Monk?"

"John just called me—he'll be running late, probably won't be here until pretty late at night."

"Ah, alright." I gave a nod even though he couldn't see me. "I'll tell Naru then." I glanced at my boyfriend to see him staring at me. We said our goodbyes, and I turned to Naru. "John won't meet us at the Tachibana's until late tonight."

Naru let out a breath and nodded, but said nothing else on the subject. _What's up with him?_ I thought, finally finding a comfy enough position. After several minutes of boredom, I kept lowering my head until it made contact with his shoulder. He stiffened slightly, but relaxed and didn't say a word. I smiled to myself and closed my eyes in contentment. These were the kinds of moments I treasured the most.

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Apparently I must have dozed off while resting my head on Naru's shoulder because the next thing I knew was him calling my name—I also vaguely noticed in my half awake, half asleep mind that the van wasn't moving anymore. I yawned, sitting up groggily. I rubbed the blurriness out of my eyes.

"We're here already?" I mumbled to myself, but of course, Naru heard.

"Yes, Mai, otherwise I wouldn't have woken you up."

I glared at him the best I could from just waking up and was about to hit his arm, but unfortunately he stepped out of the van before I could do so.

"Stupid, narcissistic jerk." I mumbled, climbing out as well. He and Lin were already walking towards the house when I saw Monk's car pull up. I raised my hand excitedly. I waited for him to park it before going over to greet them. "Monk!" I called, skipping over to the driver's side.

"Hey, kiddo." Monk grinned at me as he got out of his car. He looked around a bit before looking back down at me. "Naru and Lin are already inside?"

"They're bringing in the equipment."

Monk raised a brow. "And you're not helping? _Doing your job_?"

"...I just woke up."

"And that gives you an excuse?" Ayako questioned, coming around the front of the car to stand beside me. Her voice had a hint of amusement in it.

"Well, um... Yes, in fact it does."

The priestess placed both of her hands on her hips. "How?"

"I-" I was saved from the trouble of having to come up with an excuse as Naru walked to my side. I smiled at him, hoping he'd say something to get Monk and Ayako off my back for me.

"Clearly Mai is unable to carry such heavy equipment due to her lack of physical ability."

My smile dropped while Ayako narrowed her eyes.

"She's done it before." She stated.

"And so have you, so I suggest getting to work, Miss Matsuzaki."

Ayako's eyes widened while her face turned the color of her hair. Rather it was from anger or embarrassment I didn't know, but I had to repress a smile. With a huff, Ayako stomped away from us, but nevertheless, she walked towards the van.

I bounced away from my boyfriend with a grin, walking inside the beautiful home. I ignored the thought that Naru would scold me later for doing it and leaving them with the equipment, but I didn't much care right now. Looking around, I noticed I was in a short hallway that, if I turned to the right, would lead me to a tatami room. Curiously, I took a few steps towards it to peek inside. It was full of pictures, some of the Tachibana's, and some of beautiful scenery. A small candle burned on a table surrounded by different kinds of seats, and a small lace cloth was laid on the edge of the table. It was a peaceful room. I smiled softly to myself.

"Who're you?" A young voice questioned. I spun around to see a boy about thirteen standing there with a frown.

"Oh, hello there! I'm Mai Taniyama, I'm here to work at this house. And you are?" I questioned, slightly off-put by his seriousness.

"Ichiro." He replied shortly, cocking his head to the side a bit as he spoke. He still stared at me as if I was a threat or something.

"U-um, well, it's nice to meet you Ichiro! Now if you'll excuse me..." I ran out of the room, continuing down the hallway and to the staircase. So long as that Ichiro was around, I didn't want to hang around downstairs—he was intimidating. Even more so than Naru when he acts around people. How can a kid like that have such an expression? Although with everything that's been happening here and losing his sister, it's understandable. I sighed sadly and looked around me. There seemed to be quite a few rooms. I went forward slowly, deciding to try to find Mrs. Tachibana and let her know we're here. Wherever she may be.

"Don't you know it's rude to snoop around someone's home? Especially when you didn't let anyone know you're here?"

Letting out a shriek of surprise, I spun around again to find Ichiro there behind me once more. _H-He followed me?_

"W-well, I thought I'd get to know the layout. And besides, you know I'm here. And isn't it rude to follow people?" This kid was scaring me a bit.

"It's my home." He shot back, his arms crossed. I stayed silent, unsure how to respond without making a fool of myself. Thankfully, after several awkward moments of having a stare-down with the kid, someone decided to save me.

"Oh! Hello there." I heard Mrs. Tachibana's voice.

"Mrs. Tachibana!" I sighed thankfully as I turned towards her.

"Umm...Miss Taniyama, was it?" She asked as if she was afraid she had gotten it wrong.

"Yup, that's me! But just call me Mai."

She smiled at me. "Alright... Where's your boss?" She looked around, expecting him to be somewhere with me.

"Oh! Um, he's with the rest bringing in equipment," I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.

"As you should be as well." I suddenly heard Naru's voice. My eyes widened as I turned to look at him carrying one of those big monitors.

"I-I was looking for Mrs. Tachibana so she knew we were here, and to get to know the layout," I defended, blushing. Naru only gave me a blank stare, and I quickly adverted my gaze downward. "I'm going to go do things now," I walked away quickly. Once I was out of ear-shot and had turned a corner, I let out a breath and brought my hand to my chest. That kid was so intimidating, and now Naru's probably going to chew me out for wandering off. Again.

I walked back down the stairs, carefully evading Monk and Lin carrying in one of our larger monitors. After they passed by, I easily made it outside to get back to the van. Grabbing one of the smaller monitors, I jogged back inside, where a little girl was sitting in the doorway. She looked so adorable, but when she looked up at me as I came near, intense sadness had showed in her eyes. Her hair was in blonde pigtails that blew gently in the wind, and she asked, "Are you gonna get rid of Kao-chan?"

I swallowed thickly, suddenly at a loss for words. This "Kao-chan" was her sister, right? How am I suppose to answer something like that?

She looked away, standing up, "I go sleepy'bye."

"Uhh, b-bye..." I only managed to mutter before she scurried up the stairs. I shook my head to try and get rid of the strangeness that had happened within the last fifteen minutes and went back to my original mission to put the monitor in base. As I entered the room, Monk and Lin were coming back out. I placed the monitor on a desk close to Naru. Stretching with a yawn—I was still tired from my nap in the car earlier—I left to go grab more equipment. It took about fifteen more minutes to get everything inside base, but with everyone's help we all managed to do it.

"Phew, that took a lot of work!" I smiled, relieved the moving stuff was over. It was my least favorite part. Thankfully the guys lift the heavy equipment though so I don't have too. At least I'm lucky in that department.

"So, Naru, how is this investigation playing out?" Monk asked. I looked over at him to see the file he was reading snap shut before he stood up. His steady, dark gaze glancing over everyone in the room.

"First of all, most of the activity seems to happen near the lake and in the girl's room," He began, "We need a full view of each space and mics inside. Putting them outside would be useless because of the every day nighttime activity." Everyone nodded in agreement, following what he was saying. "I want a camera in every bedroom, someone has to be at base at all times."

"The bedrooms...?" I frowned, looking up at Naru. "Are you sure that's okay? I mean..."

"Most of the activity seems to come from outside and the bedrooms—specifically the girl's," He looked at me with sharp eyes, "We can't risk any more injuries, and if that means invading privacy, then so be it."

Nodding slightly, I looked away as I bit my lip. I could only hope the family here understood the reasons for invading their privacy. At least there won't be any cameras in the bathrooms though.

"Anywhere else in the house aside of the bedrooms where the cameras should be?" Monk asked Naru, his arms crossed over his chest.

"The living room and dining room."

Monk and I both nodded, already knowing the two of us would be the ones to set up the cameras. Naru was silent, seeming to think for a moment. I waited a few more moments, seeing if he would say anything else, before walking towards the cameras and microphones, dragging Monk over with me.

"You sure are eager today," He laughed, picking up some of the heavier equipment to place. I gave Monk a small smile.

"Well, better safe than sorry!"

"Should we start with the twin bedroom?"

"Sure." I said as I also grabbed the radio to converse with Lin about the camera angles, and together, Monk and I head out of the door and into the hallway.

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**Naruisawesome: Hey! So, yeah, here was the long belated chapter! XD Yay!**

**Spamano Love Child: Yay! Sorry for this, I was having trouble getting free time, so~**

**Naruisawesome: We hoped you liked this chapter and will continue reading! ^_^**

**Spamano Love Child: Please look forward to more~**


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